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A beginner's guide to split keyboards

justinmklam.com

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Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#161

Post by adrian_b »

Fellshard wrote: post #19
soufron wrote: post #2

The main question should be: are split keyboards any better than normal keyboard? When I gave it a look, the studies were on the side of split keyboards being the hardware equivalent of snake oil. But whatever. And maybe then: are keyboards the best input device in 2026?

I can speak anecdotally, at least. My shoulders are pretty wide for my frame. When using most laptop keyboards and many standard keyboards, I have to tuck my shoulders in and twist my wrists. This was causing some serious pain and tension in my neck, shoulders, and wrists, likely leading toward carpal tunnel. I made two different changes in succession that helped greatly (and I don't remember the order now): 1. With…

The shoulder problem was similar for me.

For many years I have used very cheap Microsoft ergonomic keyboards (discontinued some years ago), which were already much better for the position of the arms than standard keyboards.

Then I switched to a truly split keyboard, which is even better.

I have also switched to Dvorak a few years ago. A couple of months were needed until recovering and then exceeding the previous typing speed, but it was worthwhile, because the comfort of typing has greatly improved. Now I regret that I have not done this earlier.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#162

Post by exitb »

jbstack wrote: post #158
exitb wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The base idea behind keeping your fingers on the home row makes sense, as it promises that you can reach most of the commonly used keys by just curling or straightening your fingers, without moving your wrists at all. This doesn’t appear true in your picture. How does the person reach T with a finger that’s already straight, while still keeping a finger on A? This is obviously not an exact science and I’m sure you ma…

I'm not sure I can answer the first question, because I can reach the T just fine with my other finger on A and without contorting my wrist. Also, not that it changes my point, but I don't conform to a rigid version of the home-row rule or the standard touch-typing method, and I think that's how I achieve faster typing speeds than most. My hands dance around the keyboard and each movement is relative to where my fing…

Yeah, I get that. From how you describe it, I think my typing style was similar to yours. It works, but it’s significantly distinct from what’s presented as proper touch typing form. In my case, the downside was that due to all the movement, even tough I knew where the keys are, I tended to hit wrong keys a lot.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#163

Post by duckerduck »

unfixed wrote: post #139

I am an owner of a Glove 80 and I cannot overstate how benefitial it was for me. It improved my typing speed and overall comfort. Also, it forced me to type correctly, using all my fingers and place them in the correct keys. To this day I think this is one of the best pieces of hardware that I bought.

I got the Go60 recently from the same company, been really enjoying (re-)learning how to type on it. It does take some time tho.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#164

Post by piskov »

mailund wrote: post #128
piskov wrote: post #14

The issue with kinesis and all those nice small symmetrical keyboards is that not every alphabet is as short as English. Russian, for example, has 33 letters. So if you’re someone like that, you really want that ordinary macbook-like number of keys = larger non-symmetrical right half. — As for the ortholinear keyboards, I spent a few months with the latest kinesis but sold it eventually: not that comfortable. Just cl…

the uhk looks fairly close to what I've been looking for, just wish it had ortholinear keys. how's the build quality? I got a split keyboard a while ago from a small producer, and the case was completely built out of 3d printed plastic which caused it to be pretty flimsy and kept sliding around due to the light weight.

I have v1, built like a tank.

Though there is not much space inside, in case you want to add foam for noise isolation and what have you

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#165

Post by Bishonen88 »

genbugenbu wrote: post #39
cheraderama wrote: post #24

Can somebody recommend a layout for a programmer for a 54 key kyeboard?

Take a look at ZSAs oryx configurator for Voyager (52 keys) - you'll see some general configs and development ones etc. In general, for my moonlander I would have the first layer with all the normal alpha numerics and a few symbols like ? But the second layer would contain most symbols, arranged/grouped in a manner which was natural for programming - e.g. grouping keys together like (), [], {},

I've got a moonlander as well (typing on it this very message), and while typing 'clicked' for me in general, I still miss the additional keys of a normal keyboard. I customized mine as well to match my needs, but I don't have a good spot left for '[' and ']'. Have them mapped next to 5 (right) and 6 (left) but that's just as awkward to hit as the normal position they have on the keyboard. Same with "F" keys. Having to press a modifier instead of having just another row on top is a bit meh.

Hitting ALT+F1 in intellij is gymnastics for my hands. alt is super low, modifier for F keys is on the left edge of the right keyboard, and then I need to hit "1" as well.

And there's lots of other little cuts like the ones above with the moonlander. I still enjoy coming back to my MX Master mechanical from logitech for that reason every now and then.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#166

Post by precompute »

I moved from a regular keyboard (freestyle hunt-and-peck) to a corne (touch typing), ditching qwerty for Colemak Mod-DH. It took me six months to really get comfortable with it. At month four I was almost ready to kick off the training wheels (the training wheels here being the layout printout I looked at while typing).

Five years later, I have no regrets. It's easily the best thing I've done for productivity, ever. My fingers are my BCI. Effortless.

I keep the two halves far apart: wider than my shoulders so my arms are angled outwards and my chest is up and I'm sitting up straight. And I modified the keymap to work just the way I intuitively expect it to.

I can still type ~60wpm on qwerty on a standard keyboard. My phone is qwerty and I have no issues typing on it. Muscle memory of my posture and arm position makes this possible.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#167

Post by piskov »

nosrepa wrote: post #109
piskov wrote: post #14

The issue with kinesis and all those nice small symmetrical keyboards is that not every alphabet is as short as English. Russian, for example, has 33 letters. So if you’re someone like that, you really want that ordinary macbook-like number of keys = larger non-symmetrical right half. — As for the ortholinear keyboards, I spent a few months with the latest kinesis but sold it eventually: not that comfortable. Just cl…

My caps lock key is swapped with the left control key as God intended.

When you don't have any extra keys for home, arrows, etc., caps is needed for the layer to use those keys.

Though I use ctrl right next to spacebar on windows so it is the same as mac

win, alt, ctrl, spacebar, ctrl, alt

Using thumb for ctrl is even better than pinkey

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#168

Post by noelwelsh »

rgoulter wrote: post #60

Underdiscussed: The biggest difference these keyboards make: adding additional keys for the thumbs (replacing the unnecessarily large spacebar of traditional keyboards). This allows the hands to do more with the keyboard while resting the hands on home row. -- For users comfortable adding a bit of complexity for the benefit of increased expressiveness (e.g. vim users), having extra thumb keys allows bringing the full…

Agreed. The thumb cluster is what I miss the most from my old Maltron keyboard. I'm looking at the Dygma Defy as it seems to have the best thumb cluster of current ergo keyboards.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#169

Post by precompute »

w10-1 wrote: post #8

This is a summary of Reddit discussions and maker hacks, not of the actual market for ergonomic keyboards. Because the goal of those discussions and hacks is to be distinctive, the summary picture is fascinating but over-complicated. Kinesis Advantage keyboards have been popular for decades and proven ergonomic benefit - mainly because the cup avoids wrist movement and the high-traffic keys are moved to the stronger…

Many people (including myself) use small split keyboards and are very happy with them. You don't need a kinesis to avoid wrist movement, DIY keyboards (like the corne) work just as well.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#170

Post by precompute »

Zambyte wrote: post #45

I have both a ZSA Moonlander and Voyager. I've used the former for five years or so, and the latter as a travel keyboard for about a year. I'm super happy with them (obviously happy enough to buy a travel version). I switched to Dvorak at the same time that I switched from row staggered keyboards (so five years ago), and I must say, if you're thinking about switching layouts like that, there is no better time than wh…

I agree. I've had the same experience. Moved to Colemak on my Corne and can still type ~60WPM on a normal qwerty keyboard.
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